Draco And Hermione: Can Love Really Conquer All?
by ExtremeModeration
Summary: See the title. I'm not real good with summaries.


**Chapter One: The Letter**

Disclaimer: I don't own the Harry Potter series or anything related to it. This is only a very poorly written story involving the characters, places, and ideas introduced in that series.

Author's Note: I changed the storyline some. So sue me.

"We did not change as we grew older; we just became more clearly ourselves."

-Lynn Hall, _Where Have All the Tigers Gone?, 1989_

The sun had just begun to spill into his bedroom when the blonde's alarm went off. Trying to ignore it, he closed his eyes and pulled the red comforter over his head. This worked for all of two minutes when all of the sudden his door opened so violently that it bounced against the opposite wall. Reluctantly, the blonde pulled his comforter off his face and looked directly into eyes that mirrored his own- the cold, blue-gray eyes of Lucius Malfoy.

"Turn that blasted thing off," the man commanded, pointing at the alarm clock. The blonde in the bed complied, then sunk back into his bed. "You were supposed to be downstairs two minutes ago, Draco. What do you have to say for yourself?"

"Remind me again why I should get up in the Godforsaken hours of the morning to see you off to jail," snapped Draco. He wasn't a particularly happy camper at having to get up early during his vacation, especially for something like this.

"Because I'm your father and I WILL have the respect I deserve," Lucius countered, using the tone that he usually reserved for Muggles and House Elves. Draco rolled his eyes.

"You're only my father in the biological sense of the word. Real fathers don't try to kill their children," Draco says, poison dripping off every word. "Or have you forgotten two months ago?" Lucius eyes narrow, but before he can answer several official-looking men in black suits appear in Draco's doorway.

"It's time to go, Malfoy," one of them tells Lucius. He whirls around, sends a final glare of contempt as his son, and slams out of the room. Draco could hear their muffled voices for a second, but they soon disappear. Smirking, he retreats into the memories of the past few months….

_ Dumbledore's office, June. Dumbledore has just gotten back from his horcrux mission and Draco, along with Snape and a few other Death Eaters, have him cornered in his office. It is completely silent: all but one of the other Death Eaters are expecting him to kill the old man. A significant glance in Snape's direction. Snape nods imperceptively. Draco yells "Avada kedavra!" and aims it at someone- just not at the old man. He aims it instead at one of the Death Eaters, who promptly falls down. He turns to face the other two, but Snape has already taken care of them- they lie in a heap at his feet. A noise behind him distracts him. He whirls around to find Potter taking off his Invisibility Cloak…_

_ The Riddle House, a week later. Draco is following Harry through the house, trying to reach Voldemort. Draco has come as Harry's "back up," according to Dumbledore, but he knows the real deal- if something happens, sacrifice yourself to save Potter. Such was the price of coming on the raid… he knew that. A Death Eater races around the corner, aiming curses as they went. Draco tackles Harry- Gryffindors, they never would learn- and aims a particularly nasty curse at the Death Eater. It hits him and even Draco grimaces as his intestines burst out of his abdoment, sending blood everywhere. They stand up and shake themselves off. Around the corner, into another hallway, looking for the room with the black doors. Harry and Draco see it at the same time. They look at each other and Draco nods. Harry starts runs toward the room. A noise behind them-they whirl around. Five Death Eaters. Harry aims his wand at them. "Don't be a prat, Potter! Get in that room!" Draco yells, even as he takes aim at the Death Eaters. Draco takes three of them down with a particularly nasty poison arrow hex. The other two duck and Draco takes advantage of the situation to send a stupefying spell his way. It hits square in the chest and he falls flat on his face. The last Death Eater stands and takes off his hood, revealing the blonde hair that could only belong to a Malfoy._

"_Going to kill me?" He asks Draco, who is too shocked to reply. "Good God, don't tell me I have a son who can't fight…" He looks down at his son. "If you're going to fight like a Muggle, then you'll die like one. Expelliarmus!" Draco's wand goes flying. "Avada kedav-!" He begins, but a flash of blue light from the side knocks him off his feet and sends him into a wall. With a nasty crack! the elder Malfoy falls to the floor, unconscious. _

Draco looks to see his rescuer, who was quite possibly the last person he would ever expect to save his neck- Granger. "Are you allright?" she asks. Draco nods. There is a long, uncomfortable silence that only ends when Draco cries out in pain, clutching his left arm. At first, the pain comes in waves but after about thirty seconds becomes continuous. By this time, he is on the floor, screaming and writhing in pain. The pain is unbearable now… he becomes disoriented. He looks up at Hermione. "Kill me or make is stop.." he pleads, his eyes watering with tears. "I'm begging you… kill me…" She puts her wand to his temple. "Unconshiento" she says, and sleep, blissful sleep, overtakes him.

Draco snaps out of his daydreams. He'd been through the weeks after the raid again and again in his mind- waking up in the hospital wing a week later with the pain gone from his Dark Mark… finding out that Potter had killed Voldemort… seeing his father sentenced to the Dementor's Kiss. Funny… dear old dad could go one place before the Kiss and he comes here… for what? Mum died during the Raid and he had to have known I wouldn't be rolling out the welcome wagon… maybe he wanted to say goodbye to the House Elves?

Still smirking, Draco rolls over and looks at the clock. 6:00. "Bloody Hell…" he mutters. He only had two weeks left of vacation, for Chrissakes. He wasn't getting up yet.

An hour later he still hadn't managed to go back to sleep. Cursing his father, he rolls out of bed and sits on the side of his mattress. He can look directly from here and see his reflection his mirror- the tousled blonde hair, the gray eyes, the bare, toned chest, the gray boxers…. and the Mark. The ever-present Mark. The Ministry had let him off the hook for two reasons: one, he hadn't actually done anything yet and two, risking his life for the Order. They had made strides in figuring out a way to remove it, but for now he used the old standby- good old Muggle cover up. A little trick Granger had showed him in the hospital after the raid.

Yawning and stretching, Draco gets up off the mattress and walks over to his closet and picks out some blue jeans and a white Weird Sisters t-shirt, along with white tennis shoes. He puts them on, combs his hair, and looks at himself in the mirror. _I do look like a model, even if I do say so myself._ With a self-satisfied smirk, he opens his door and walks down to the kitchen. This being a mansion, it takes ten minutes.

Once he got to the kitchen, Draco found everything in order, as usual. Everything was how it was supposed to be- except the absence of his parents, of course. _Not too big a loss… they were never really my parents, anyway. Real parents don't go gallivanting off every summer and leave you here by yourself.. _

Not ten seconds after he stepped into the kitchen, a House Elf appeared.

"Does Master Malfoy wish breakfast?" asked the Elf. Draco thought.

"Yes. Get me one of those Muggle things- you know, the pastries with the filling inside. I think they're called Pop-Tarts or something like that. Chocolate chip. And some coffee." The elf bowed and disappeared. Draco sat down in one of the chairs surrounding the kitchen table, where a fresh copy of the Daily Prophet was waiting.

The picture on the front of the page was of the Order, including Potter, Granger, and all of the Weasleys. Even Snape was in it. They were all smiling and waving- except for Snape, of course. He remembered them taking this- about a week after the raid. Dumbledore had wanted Draco in it, but he had refused. He'd already been swamped by reporters and quite frankly he'd had enough. Being in the picture would just cause more to come. For the first time, he wasn't envious of Potter and the attention he got, although he'd never admit to anyone that he'd ever been jealous of Potter. He scanned the article and found nothing he didn't know- in fact, some of it was what he had said to reporters. His coffee and Pop-Tarts appeared magically in front of him, so he put the paper down and ate.

After breakfast, he was still sitting in the kitchen, vaguely thinking about going to practice Quidditch when an owl swooped in from nowhere and dropped a letter in his lap. The Hogwarts crest was emblazoned on the front, but something was different from last year- it was quite a bit thicker. He broke the seal and took out two things- a letter and another envelope.

He opened the envelope first. No surprise there, it was just a list of the books he would need. The envelope piqued his interest much more, and for good reason. It contained two objects: a letter and a badge. He took the letter out and tore it open. It read:

_ Dear Mr. Malfoy: _

_ It is my pleasure to inform you that you have been appointed Head Boy. In short, your duties will be much the same as the prefects', but you will have more of them. Your __main duty, along with the Head Girl, will be to supervise the prefects of all of the Houses. In case of emergencies, you are to supervise the prefects in following Professor Dumbledore's orders and then you are to report to the Headmaster, to assist in any way he finds necessary._

_ Now, seeing as your duties require you to maintain close contact with the Head Girl, you two will share your own common rooms and dormitories, but the rules are the same as in the other common rooms. You may bring guests into your common room, but they are to leave by curfew. _

_ Finally, this position is a position of service, not of power or recognition. Any abuses of power will possibly result in you being stripped of your title. Points may still be taken away from the House you were inducted into. _

_ Sincerely,_

_ Minerva McGonagall_

_ Deputy Headmistress_

Draco smiled and picked up the badge. It looked exactly like the Prefect badge he already had but this said "Head Boy" instead of "Prefect."

Draco picked up the school list. _Well, looks like I know what I'm doing today. Wonder if we have any Floo powder?_

He walked over to the fireplace and picked up a jar on the mantle. He opened it and peered inside. Just enough for a one way trip. He tipped the jar over and poured what was left into his hand, then stepped into the fireplace.

"Diagon Alley!" he roared. The familiar green flames enveloped him, and he was gone.


End file.
